Brazen Fox

Combined Group - Session 3 - Sunday July 12

"I grapple the Wizard"

22

JUL/15

We last left our heroes at the entrance to the Redbrand hideout. Turin and Ro-Kan decided to head into town to attempt to reconvene with Rat and Mun—they would need some help if they were to eliminate the Redbrand. Zex, however, chose to stay behind. Something had been troubling him, at first Ro-Kan had chalked it up to concern over his cousin, but now it seemed more pronounced, especially after he executed that prisoner. “I’ll stay here and watch over the cave entrance. And pray.”

Ro-Kan and Turin walked into town. Ro-Kan was electrified, eager for the coming fight with the Redbrand punks who had been ruining this town. It was several minutes of walking beside the human that he even realized that he was speaking. Muttering, more like. The language seemed to shift in and out of languages that Ro-Kan knew—Common, Giant, Dwarf—through languages he recognized—Goblin, Elven, Draconic—and into ones that he had never heard before. Dark, guttural wretchings of harsh syllables gave way to light trilling flicks of the madman’s tongue. His eyes were gouts of green smoke, thick and choking. Turin began to run through Phandalin. Ro-Kan, confused, followed after, keeping pace with the human, ready to crush his skull if he had truly lost his mind and posed a danger to the innocent.

Turin now seemed to regain some semblance of control, as his ramblings fell back into the Common tongue. He lunged at passersby and shouted at them “YOUMUSTHELPTHEM”, before letting go and sprinting down the lane again. Ro-Kan followed him into the Stonehill Inn, where he saw Turin accosting a young human in Chainmail. “YOUMUSTHELPTHEM,” he wheezed, before collapsing into Ro-Kan’s arms.

Toblin, the owner of the Stonehill Inn, came down and whisked Turin upstairs for medical treatment: bed rest and nerve tonic.

Just then, Rat appeared out of the crowd. Somehow, he had managed to blend in with the dirty, sweaty, filth-covered miners that packed the tavern’s benches. “Ro-Kan! What’s going on? You know that guy?”

Ro-Kan quickly recapped the events of the previous session, and brought Rat up to speed with their current mission of exterminating the Redbrand.

“…And so I came back to town to see if you and the Wizard made it here. We need reinforcements to destroy the Redbrand.”

Rat gave a significant look at the armored human that Turin had molested. “What about him?”

Ro-Kan put his meaty hand on the human’s shoulder.

“Ho there. I apologize for… whatever that other guy was doing. He’s not well. Now, you look like you can handle yourself in a battle.”

The human said “No worries. Yes, yes… I suppose I can.”

“So can I,” piped in a female Elf from nearby. “And so can he,” she continued, gesturing to a Halfling wrapped in a hooded cloak.

“What sort of fight are you asking us to get into?” said the finely-dressed Halfling sat across from the armored human, a pile of coin and playing cards stacked in front of him.

After some back-and-forth negotiations, Ro-Kan and Rat agreed to hire the four of the would-be adventurers to help them rid Phandalin of the Redbrand at a 10% stake each. They would head out at nightfall the next day.

Ro-Kan took Rat back to the Mayor’s manse, where Ro-Kan again spent the night in the bell-tower, while Rat found a comfortable spot under the stairs to spend the night.

The next morning, Ro-Kan checked on Turin, and then took Rat to the Provisioner to collect his payment.

After that, and a brief chat with Sildar, they met up with the Reinforcements and took them out into the woods.

As they approached the cave entrance, Ro-Kan called out to Zex. The Rockseeker made his presence known, and after a few introductions to the new hires, the group headed inside.

Rat took the point position, with Ten taking the second position. Behind them came Ro-Kan, followed by Roselyn, Garçon, and ******.

As it got darker and darker inside the cave, the Bard whistled and produced some kind of magical flying lantern, that he sent buzzing off ahead of them with merely a thought.

Entering the cavern, Ro-Kan set off to the left and went down the stairs. Garçon pushed past him and listened at the door. “This room is definitely occupied,” he said to the Goliath.

Perfect, thought Ro-Kan. Time to begin our extermination of the hated Redbrand! With merely a glance over his shoulder at Rat, Ro-Kan put his boot into the door, throwing it open violently. A trio of Bugbears were in the room, along with a Goblin, who passed out upon seeing the Goliath and his hammer.

Ro-Kan leapt into the room and bludgeoned one of the Bugbears with his hammer. Garçon charged in as well, and stabbed one in the side.

the Human Fighter charged in, with his easily forgettable name, and quickly had one of the Bugbears engaged in solo combat.

Rat scurried down the stairs after the rest of the group, but instead of turning left, he turned right, and threw open another door, revealing a quartet of Redbrand who were playing some sort of card game. The four men leapt to their feet, drew swords, and then two of them promptly fell asleep, as Roselyn waved her hands and muttered a few arcane phrases. Confused, the first Redbrand fell to Rat’s twin cutlasses rather quickly. The second turned around and woke up his fellow gang members.

The three men closed on the Halfling and the Wizard, and then Garçon leapt into the room and between the three heroes, the remaining three Redbrand stood no chance at all.

Back in the other room, Ro-Kan and Zex sat atop the corpse of a Bugbear and Ten Ten-Leaf leaned against the wall, and the three watched * the Human Fighter continue to fight the Bugbear he had first squared off against.

The rest of the team poured back in and began to cheer him on. Rat rolled a keg of ale into the room, which Zex quickly tapped and passed mugs of ale around. The cheers fell silent when Bugbear reared back and his morningstar smashed into the Fighter again and again and again, dropping him.

After a second, Rat held a mug of ale out to the Bugbear. A bit confused, the beast lowered his morningstar and took the offered beverage. Ro-Kan raised his mug in a toast, and when the Bugbear followed suit, the Goliath dropped his mug, raised his hammer and in one mighty blow, smashed the Bugbear’s skull.

One hour later, everyone had taken a quick breather and had a few drinks. The Human had been patched up, and the group felt good enough to press on. Moving through the cardroom, they came upon a Wizard’s Workshop. As Roselyn fell onto the books and instruments, Ro-Kan decided to keep moving. There were no Redbrand here, so this room did not matter. Opening the next door, he was met with the sight of a human man wrapped in a red cloak carrying a Glass Staff. This was him. The leader of these filthy dogs. Ro-Kan advanced on the man, who quickly cast some sort of binding spell at him. But Ro-Kan’s goal was in sight, and so he simply refused to be bound by the Wizard’s words. In a moment, the Goliath closed his massive fist around the Wizard’s throat and lifted him high into the air.

Rat slashed at him. Garçon stabbed at him. Zex ripped his staff from his hand. Ten managed to insult him so badly that his brain hurt.

Ro-Kan shook the Wizard around until he stopped struggling to get free, and then Rat tied him to a chair.

Glass-Staff told them that the Black Spider was a Drow, and that the Bugbears would be the ones who knew how to get to Wave Echo Cave.

With that, the group decided to bring Glass-Staff back to town and turn him over to Sildar. They would then return here to continue to eliminate the Redbrand threat.